Monday, 5 March 2012

Eat Cafe - A Review

This may not be the most expected post after my outpourings yesterday but I have been meaning to blog about this new local cafe for a while! It has become my new favourite place to eat out and since discovering its existence around 2 months ago, I have already eaten there 5 times!

The first time I noticed it was walking past with Nik on way to an Italian nearby, sadly their kitchen was about to close so we carried on to the Italian. I went back a week later with Claire to check it out and thoroughly enjoyed it! I didn't take pictures that time but I had the crab cakes (£6.80), followed by their own recipe sausages with parmesan mash (£10.00) AND a chocolate cupcake (£2.70) which came served with crème fraiche and a light dusting of icing sugar. I also tried the strawberry lemonade (£2.75) which was delicious and surprisingly refreshing and not too sweet. The service was excellent and friendly.

The next time I visited was with Sarah and her 2 children. One of whom, the 2 1/2 year old toddler, was particularly friendly running up to everyone saying "Hi", so cute! Again, the staff were excellent and friendly despite having to constantly barricade the kitchen as he was determined to get in there to say hello the chef as well! This visit I had a small portion of their pasta of the day(£6.50) which was linguine with tomatoes and wild mushrooms in a creamy sauce and a large latte (£2.65). I immediately wished I had got the larger portion as it was AMAZING! Sarah had the omelette (£6.50) which looked equally delicious!

The next time I went with Nik when Vikki came to Glasgow to visit and we met for lunch. He had the crab linguine with chilli oil and lemon (£9.00) and Vikki and I had the special pasta (£9.50) which was squid ink linguine with prawns, squid and mussels in a saffron cream sauce. I had a pear juice (£2.75), Vikki had a lemonade (£2.10) and Nik had tap water and a tea (£1.60).

We all had dessert, Nik had the chocolate cupcake (£2.70) and a small capuccino (£2.10), Vikki had the large rhubarb and custard tart (£4.00) and a chamomile tea (£1.70) and I had 3 of the small petit four tarts - lemon meringue, banoffee and pear and almond (£1.60 each) (I couldn't decide and they were small, plus this was when I was still being bad!) and a small latte (£2.10).

I was there for lunch again on Saturday with Jen and her husband and again, loved it! This time I was trying to be good so went for the roast chicken sandwich with salad (£5.95) and a sparkling water (£1.50). Nik had the steak sandwich (£9.50) which he enjoyed but felt that it would have been better had it been a thinner steak or cut into more, smaller slices as he got big chunks of steak in some mouthfuls and just empty bread in others. Jen had the prosciutto and fig salad (£7.50) which looked delicious and had huge amounts of ham around the edge! James had the special, sea bass with lentils (£10.50) which also looked yummy. Unfortunately I didn't take pictures again as I wasn't sure she was aware of the blog and Nik gets embarrassed enough as it is when I insist on taking photos of everything before I eat! It turns out she wouldn't have minded as she has read my blog and seemed very enthusiastic about it! :)

And again, it was Eat Cafe Sarah and I chose to meet at again on Sunday night for dinner and a catch up. This time I had the expert guiding me on healthy choices as Sarah has recently lost over 3 stone since having her baby in April last year!! She has done really well with the help of a personal trainer and some good old dedication! I chose to have the braised pork and fennel ragu linguine in a tomato sauce (£5), again going for the small portion this time as I am trying to be good. To fill me up, I chose to have the house salad (£3), complete with healthy seeds, on the side after enjoying the side salad so much with my sandwich, the dressing is lovely!

Sarah had the small mushroom risotto which I tasted and was really good (£5) and the salad as well. We unfortunately couldn't resist dessert after seeing a meringue appear on the next table so decided to share one (and Sarah assures me there are much worse desserts than meringue, although I'm sure that doesn't take into account the mound of cream! Although I think the fruit helps cancel some of that out - maybe not doing QUITE as well as I hoped on the old willpower! Oh, but I did walk the 1.1 miles instead of driving!!) and I had a small latte and she had a tea. The meringue was scrumptious, crunchy and chewy, just how it should be. We were both stuffed after, despite having only a small portion and would definitely recommend so many of the things on the menu!

Eat Cafe is excellent value for money (the small pastas are only £5) with delicious food made with fresh ingredients. The service is friendly and attentive but not overly so. The only thing I had been disappointed with until tonight was the lack of fresh ground pepper (which I love on pretty much everything) as they just had a fine pepper shaker on the tables but today a grinder appeared on our table without me noticing until half way through so I will now know to ask for it in future. They aren't licensed yet but it sounds like they are trying to be. Corkage is currently £1 for a bottle of wine or 50p for beer.

The decor is minimal and modern, the atmosphere is consistently good, even when quiet on a Sunday evening. In the evenings the lights are dimmed and candles are placed on the tables. I like the large open hatch so you can see the hustle and bustle of the kitchen. All the cakes are on display at the front counter which makes it easier (or more difficult as they all look so good!) to choose dessert. They have a special soup, bruschetta and pate each day all of which I have yet to try but do plan to when one of them grabs me. There seems to be a good selection of options for vegetarians too, I have noticed that all the pates have been vegetable based ones when I have been in. I am looking forward to many more nice meals in our new local eatery! (We have already booked to go back again next weekend when her sister is visiting!)

P.S. Make sure you head on over to Any Other Wedding today as they are having a big relaunch this week!!! I, for one, can't wait to see what they've done with the place! ;)

TOTS100

Bex lives in the Sussex countryside with her husband and 3-year-old twins, Kalyan & Priya. She loves to write about local events and foodie finds and is a contributor at Uckfield FM and Uckfield Matters magazine.